George blair



, 2 Sheets--Sheet 1. G. BLAIR.

FRUIT CRATE.

No. 421,655. Patented Feb. 18, 1890.

2 sheets-sheet 2,

(No Model.)

Patented Feb; '18,4 1,890.

G. BLAIR. FRUIT CRATE.

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f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE BLAIR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FRUIT-CRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,655, dated February 18, 1890. Application filed August 10, 1889. Serial No. 320,331. (No model.)

To ail whom it may' concern..-

Be it known that I, GEORGE BLAIR, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Crates; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which Ait appertains to make and use the same,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a new style of crate by which fruit, vegetables, te., can be shipped without being injured.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of two of my crates together. Fig. 2 is a top View of same. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the crates of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side view of a crate bound with iron or other suitable means. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of the lower corner of my crate.

Like reference-letters indicate like parts on the several figures of the drawings.

A'B O D represent the four sides of my proposed crate, which are held together by four standards A B C D', which run above the top and not to the bottom, as will be explained farther on.

The crate may have three small strips on a side, as shown by d d d, although it will do no harm to have the same arrangement as I have shown by A and ct-that is to say, one narrow and one Wide stripdas it is necessary to let as much ventilation as possible reach the contents of the crate. It will also be necessary to have them open as much as possible, but close enough to prevent the contents from falling out. The openings may be one or one and one-half inch. About one inch from the bottom of the sides the floor F. of my crate is situated, and this also,as can be seen from Fig. 2, has spaces in between the floor E and the cross-bars e e, which are placed to add additional strength to the crate.

The four corners of the bottoln or the floor of the crate are cut off, as shown, to form triangular apertures e e2 e3 e", and the triangular standards of that crate project a portion of the distance through said recess, and the upper projecting ends of the standards immeditely below project into the recess from below and bear against the lower ends of the standards above.

Referring to Fig. 3, it will be readily seen how these crates are made and how they are provided by the corner-supports and near the bottom with a recess forthe reception of another crate, as shown. There are two onebushel crates, one upon another, the top one being held by the ears A C 1S D. These ears can project upward for an inch or more if desirable; but they must be kept from the fruit or from the inside of the crate, as shown in particular in Fig. 5, the ends being beveled or tapered to the top, so as to fit snug in place when inserted in the next crate; but all that is necessary is to sandpaper the bevel sufficiently, as they are supposed to Iit the corner snugly. It will also be desirable to place on the bottom and on the inside of the crate two small strips f for the purpose of supporting the bottom, although in the cheap style the bottom 4can be nailed to the sides, as is commonly done.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that there is a similarity between this and thel crate of the other figures, the only diiference being that this style of crate will cost alittle more than the one shown and described in Figs. l and 3, and at the same time will cost less than the bushel -baskets that are now used. The sides, corners, bottom, dto., are all the same; but in this case to make a strong crate I propose to put bands of iron or other suitable material around them.

These crates can be made of wood or metal at a very little cost, and will last much longer than half a dozen baskets; but the wooden crates that have iron-bands f around them to give them additional strength and to preserve them will last a great while, and can be made for twenty per cent. less than the baskets, while the kind that is shown in Fig. 3 can be made and sold for sixty per cent. less than the baskets, andv the advantages are, as shown, by its capability of being packed so closely together and one on another that it is easy to get at least one hun dred of these crates in an ordinary farmwagon, while at the present time the farmer cannot carry over seventy-five of the bushelbaskets because of their taking up so much room.

There are numerous advantages in my proposed style of crate, it being handy and easily carried to the ield by the farmer and packed and then placed in the wagon for market; and when a bushel is sold it saves the time and labor of (as is done in some eases) dumping them out of a barrel and measuring them in a measure, thus bruising whatever may be the contents by the dumping of them from one or more things, whereas in my case all that is done is to place the fruit there when collected, and then when one is filled another, dac., until suiiicient have been collected, and then, when at the market, it saves the necessity of any further handling until sold, when the crate can then be used for measuring purposes.

It is customary when a lot of potatoes, onions, tbc., are shipped, they are irst dumped into a barrel on the field and transferred to the railroad and dumped on the floor of a car. Then when at the end of their destination they are again shoveled up and put in barrels or baskets for transfer again, causing them to be more or less bruised. Thus it will be seen that the crate built after my design can be handled readily, packed to the root' of the car, and transferred without any damage to the fruit whatsoever.

Then a number of these crates are to be shipped to some distant point, they can be fastened together by any of the well-known Ways, such as, for instance, ruiming a strip up the sides and holding the same together and compact, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3. Vhen, as said before, one crate is put on top of another, the bottom of the top crate forms a top for the one under it, and so on for as many as will be packed together in this way. A suitable cover can be used.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The herein described and shown rectangular fruit-crate, consisting of the combination of the triangular corner uprights A B C D the strips secured to said uprights and forming the open sides of the crate, said uprights having their upper ends proj ecting above the sides, the sides extending below the lower ends of said uprights, the boards E E, crossbars e c, and supporting-strips f, constituting the floor of said crate, located a distance above the lower edges of said sides, said floor having transverse triangular corner openings c c2 c3 ed, into which the lower ends of the uprights extend a short distance, thereby forming sockets open at the bottom, for the purpose substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

}EORGE BLAIR. 1\fVitnesses:

Guns. Koni-I, Jr., E. C. MARTIN. 

